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Summer Of Soul Context

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In 1969, the black community of Harlem were in desperate need of a win. With John F. Kennedy dying in 1963, Malcolm X in 65, and Martin Luther King Junior in 68, spirits were low and people were angry. As shown in the documentary, Summer of Soul, Tony Lawrence decided to host a massive music/cultural festival in Harlem over the course of six weeks that would feature the biggest and best black musicians and performers of the time. While it had been recorded, the recordings had never been made into a movie until 2021 with Summer of Soul. Summer of Soul provides social and political context through art, and also shows that by coming together as a community in a spirit of rejoicing, people can bring about positive change for those who are marginalized and can also bring hope to their futures. Summer of Soul does an excellent job of providing illumination through information and also the historical and political context about the state of Harlem and the people of Harlem in 1969. The black community were angry and scared because too many of their leaders had been murdered in the last decade. The …show more content…

Throughout Summer of Soul, a wide variety of music genres are played, including blues, jazz, soul, R&B, gospel, rock, and pop. Thousands of people attended this festival over the course of six weeks, often completely filling Mount Morris Park. As stated in the film, some people came to see their favorite musician/artist. The festival featured a wide range of performers including Mahalia Jackson, Sly and the Family Stone, The 5th Dimension, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Stevie Wonder, and many others. Others came just to be a part of such a culturally and historically important event where they could be around thousands of other black people who were feeling the same discouragement from current political issues and recent

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The Red Summer was an extremely violent and significant movement in America’s history, and it intensified racial tensions significantly in Chicago. “Drawn by the promise of employment and dignity, Chicago's black population more than doubled from 1916 to 1918” (Armstrong, 2016). This resulted in multiple instances of competition for jobs and housing, creating lots of tension between black and white people. Whites tried to prove their superiority in each neighborhood and created race riots that were the “...most severe of approximately 251 race riots throughout the U.S. in the ‘Red Summer’ (meaning “bloody”) following World War I; a manifestation of racial frictions intensified by large-scale African American migration to the North, industrial

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1163 Words | 5 Pages

People fought for equal rights for their jobs and living conditions, but didn't always get it. But one of the big things in Harlem at the time were the uprising and influence of gangs. In his stories Walter Dean Myers talks about gangs quite often, and some of the things they did and how they worked. Another big influence of Harlem at the time was crime and violence, which also went along with gags. (Americas Best History)

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755 Words | 4 Pages

PLOT SUMMARY AND THEME OF THE NOVEL: Magnus Chase and The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan is the story of how Magnus Chase, a son of the Norse God Frey, meets his untimely demise at the hands of the fire giant Surt after learning of his heritage. After being revived in the Norse afterlife, Valhalla, Magnus is taken back to the world of the living to fulfil his destiny as being the harbinger of the Wolf. Along the way Magnus meets many mythical creatures including: a talking goat, a deaf elf, and a tall dwarf. In the end Magnus and his new found friends rebind the Wolf Fenris and defeat the fire giant Surt. The Theme of Magnus Chase and The Sword of Summer is that when things are at their worst it can always get better.

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1925 Words | 8 Pages

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that took place in Harlem between the end of World War I and the middle of the 1930s. It was a very cultural, social, and artistic movement where African American jazz performers, authors, poets, musicians, entertainers, and actors all gave themselves a name. But during the time it was known as the “New Negro Movement” named after Alain Locke. This was a time where new cultural expressions were coming about the urban areas in the Northeast of the United States. But this whole “new negro movement” didn’t just happen out of nowhere, there is a cause of how this happened.

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978 Words | 4 Pages

The “Freedom Summers” in the the 1960’s forever changed the United States, empowering black communities to take action, in favor of change. Change is neither fast or easy, with it brings sadness and hardship along the way as the many volunteers of the Mississippi Freedom Summers learned throughout the most violent summer in Mississippi since Reconstruction. The quest for change in the voting laws of Mississippi brought with it death and tragedy along the way. It is in the hardest and lowest moments where the movement defined itself. There is beauty in the struggle and ugliness in the success, and the volunteers of the Mississippi Freedom Summers demonstrated this throughout.

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859 Words | 4 Pages

Though Janie was rich in her community, in reality, she represents the large group of lower-class African Americans. With Janie’s perspective of being a lower-class African American woman, Hurston is able to provide readers with a broader and more in depth understanding of the Harlem

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802 Words | 4 Pages

The Harlem Renaissance was a period in American history, which occurred in the 1920s in Harlem, New York. The cultural movement was an opportunity for African Americans to celebrate their heritage through intellectual and artistic works. Langston Hughes, a famous poet, was a product of the Harlem Renaissance. One notable piece of literature by Hughes is “Dream Deferred”. However, the discussion of African American culture isn’t limited to the 1920s.

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Aria Jackson Ms. Lavelle 4/21/23 The Harlem Renaissance was known at the time as the, “New Negro Movement.” From literature to music to art, this period emphasized the struggles and experiences of African-Americans as a whole. The Harlem Renaissance explored themes of economic social prosperity, the importance of community, the power of rebirth, and the value of self-expression, and the role of spirituality. Through the neighborhood gossiping about Janie, to not being able to go to the funeral, to her taking off her head rag, and to reminiscing her flashback to phoebe, Zora Neale Hurston departs from the harlem renaissance value of community and reflects the harlem renaissance value of self expression.

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1546 Words | 7 Pages

The year 1968 was arguably the most historic year in modern American history; the events that shaped this year would also shape the country. 1968 marked the end of the Civil Rights Movement, serving not only as a dramatic climax for the movement, but as a denouement for the period as well. For instance, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. highlighted the racial divide in the United States, but likewise worked on increasing compassion among white citizens and the government, helping to push towards advancements in racial equality. Furthermore, Tommie Smith and John Carlos’s protests against poverty, discrimination, and lynching during the Summer Olympics also played a major work in propelling the Civil Rights Movement for African-Americans

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462 Words | 2 Pages

The freedom summer not only got Mississippi African Americans the right to vote but their first real political voice. The film immerses the viewer in the landscape of Mississippi in 1964, it shows the political tension and the dangers faced by those surrounding the mission of the Freedom Summer. The beginning of the film sets the mood of Mississippi during the start of the civil rights movement. Stanley Nelson uses newsreels from Mississippi in the early sixties to demonstrate how deeply racism and discrimination were ingrained into political and social climate of the south.

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469 Words | 2 Pages

Literary Analysis Suspense. It's what makes us sit on the edge of our seats at movies, or has us biting our nails as we read. It’s the backbone behind any classic horror film where the babysitter keeps getting unknown phone calls about checking the children and she asks the police to trace the call only to get a call back saying it's coming from upstairs.

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1184 Words | 5 Pages

"The Red Summers of 1917-1921", have you ever wondered how it got its name? Well, it earned its bad reputation from the red blood-stained streets that smothered cities as racial violence erupted across America. In the aftermath of World War I, African Americans across the country faced the same, and a wave of lynchings, race riots, and other acts of violence at the hands of white supremacists. These horrible events triggered a newfound spirit of determination amongst African Americans, who used their anger to fuel their fight for racial justice against white Americans. The Red Summers was a time of racial conflict between African Americans and white supremacists that significantly impacted African Americans' lives in the past and present.

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132 Words | 1 Pages

The Harlem Renaissance was a period of great cultural growth in the black community. It is accepted that it started in 1918 and lasted throughout the 1930s. Though named the ‘Harlem’ Renaissance, it was a country-wide phenomenon of pride and development among black Americans, the likes of which had never existed in such grand scale. Among the varying political actions and movements for equality, a surge of new art appeared: musical, visual, and even theatre. With said surge, many of the most well-known black authors, poets, musicians and actors rose to prevalence including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Louis Armstrong, and Eulalie Spence.

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823 Words | 4 Pages

“The Explosion of Culture and Arts during the Harlem Renaissance.” TheCollector, 29 Sept. 2022,

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1748 Words | 7 Pages

In 1968, both Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, leaving the United State in a state of uncertainty. With a nation in need, the Woodstock Music and Art fair arose in 1969, standing against the background of the past year (Evans and Kingbur 20). Max Yasgur, a dairy farmer who leased his farm to the Woodstock promoters, once said to the millions of fans at the festival, “The important thing that you've proven to the world is that... a half a million young people can get together and have three days of fun and music and have nothing but fun and music, and I God Bless You for it!” (Gerdes 4), and that is exactly what the crowd of more than 400,000 fans did.

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